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Here Are The 16 Teams At The 2017 AFCON In Gabon

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers was wrapped up this past weekend with no less than 24 matches across the continent. While t...

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers was wrapped up
this past weekend with no less than 24 matches across the continent.

While the likes of Senegal, Ghana, Egypt and Cameroon
(amongst others) were already guaranteed a place in Gabon 2017 before the
weekend’s action even got underway, there was still plenty of interest to see
just how the 16-team field would shape up.

There were no major surprises – the only real highlights
were in the race for the two best runners-up slots. The first went the way of
Uganda on Saturday, with the Cranes defeating Comoros 1-0 in a nervy match in
Kampala.

It wasn’t enough to secure top spot – that honour belonged
to Burkina Faso – but Uganda mathematically guaranteed themselves one of the
two best runners-up spots, thereby ending a near four-decade wait to return to
the Nations Cup finals.

Benin were looking good to claim the other berth, but their
heavy 5-2 defeat in Bamako at the hands of Mali allowed Togo – who whipped
minnows Djibouti 5-0 in Lome – to leapfrog them and join Uganda as the
runners-up qualifiers.

There were also a few instances of big-name teams securing
their qualification with comfortable results in what could otherwise have been
nervy situations.

Tunisia whipped Liberia 4-1 in Monastir to jump to the top
of Group A (and secure a 13th successive AFCON appearance), Ivory Coast avoided
the disaster of being unable to defend their 2015 title by holding Sierra Leone
and DR Congo – who needed only a draw against Central African Republic –
claimed a comfortable 4-1 win in Kinshasa.

The qualifiers wrapped up with two North African giants –
Morocco and Algeria – ending their campaigns with comfortable wins over minnows
Sao Tome and Lesotho respectively.

All that is left is to count down the days until the draw
for the group stage of the 2017 AFCON, which will be held in Libreville on
October 19.